Winter Affliction

Part 28

"Hold on tight."

Cale grit his teeth and avoided looking at the crazy bastard. The overpowering scent was choking him but until they crossed the border he had no choice but to endure.

"Such a shame that a pretty thing like you fell on such unfortunate times."

The purring voice made him sick to his stomach but Cale focused on the ride. Supposedly it was some great honor to be personally carried on the same horse as this jackass. Cale would have preferred to return to that suffocating wagon with the rotting corpses included.

He just needed to get a little bit further and they'd reach the teleportation point.

"You're quiet. Are you shy?" He chuckled low and deep. "I can smell that you want to spend more time with me."

Cale's fingers clenched to restrain himself from assaulting royalty. He felt sick. It was true that his body had some response to the pheromones that he was being choked with but there wasn't a single hint of desire there.

It was almost laughable. All those years wondering if his feelings for Alver were merely an extension of the alpha and omega thing and all he had to do was meet this bastard once to know the impossibility of that.

From a biological standpoint, this obnoxious piece of shit was everything that a quivering little omega such as himself should helplessly desire. His condition without his suppressants was also probably quite enticing to the alpha.

Cale would rather fucking die. The idea that he appealed to the sicko was nearly as nauseating as being scented by him.

If the experience wasn't so sickening he could almost be grateful for it. He knew once and for all the difference between his body and mind. His body could want things but his mind was where his heart truly rested. It was the same way a child might crave sweets but choose not to over-indulge. Or, more accurately, how arousal did not equate to desire.

It was a bit dumb that it took such an extraordinary experience to really grant him confidence in this simple truth.

Cale closed his eyes and ignored the arm around his waist. Soon he'd be home.

Then he would never see this dirty bastard again.

Although from the timber of his chuckle, Cale had the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time he was forced to endure something unpleasant because of this arrogant pile of shit.

How was it so much worse than Cale could have imagined?

Marriage? Marriage?

Were they all insane? Cale had spent a very uncomfortable trip back to the capital where he was assessed by a variety of different physicians before he was released into his fathers custody and immediately chartered back to the Henituse territory under his fathers strict supervision.

He hadn't even been granted the opportunity to see Alver. Of course the crown prince would have his hands full with the complicated matters of diplomacy presented by the imperial prince of the Mogoru Kingdom returning the kidnap victims home when the Roan Kingdom had been powerless to do a thing.

However that didn't make it any less disappointing for Cale that he wasn't able to even catch a glimpse of him. Especially after being assaulted with the offensive stench of Adin the entire trip back to the capital.

It was, admittedly, a short trip through the use of mages and teleportation, and Cale learned that he'd only been missing for about a week. The days waning away while he was trapped in a poison that paralized the senses. The comparably short trip back took less than a day but even a minute was too long to endure Adin's stench.